Blogs from Lucca, Tuscany, Italy, Europe

We made it this time! It was the one place on our 'want to do list' while in Florence. Caught the bus that goes straight past our door, DD Lucca €9ea one way. An hour drive on the toll motorway. Not so many cars due to the tolls but plenty of trucks. Checked the weather before & expecting 28°?. Lucca is located on the fertile plains of the Serchio River. We travelled past many plant nurseries on the way into greater Lucca. It is well known for it's pretty old town inside some well maintained Renaissance City Walls. There is evidence of a settlement in 3rd BC called Luk...meaning marsh & of course giving the city it's name. The Rampart has 12 bastions & since there was no military importance anymore became a tree lined promenade ... read more

Today we left the gorgeous Ligurian coast and headed south and west to Lucca and then on to Florence. We spent most of the day in Lucca, a walled medieval town, although its first walls were built in Roman times. In 56 B.C. Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus agreed to rule Rome as a triumvirate. It is known for its towers, one of which is very prominent today because it has trees growing from its top. The towers were built by the rich of the town on their palaces and the town was a republic and didn't want any one to get ahead of their neighbors--so they limited the height and the plantings were a way around the limit. Lucca has over 80 churches, many of which are not used as churches any more. One such building ... read more

There was an hourly bus service to Pisa so we thought we had better get the 9 o’clock bus. We had checked out the bus station the previous day and arrived in good time, bought our tickets and got on the bus where we waited for the driver to arrive, in good Italian style. At this point we realised we had left our voucher for going up the tower behind but the next bus would have been too late so we carried on. The bus trip was supposed to be about 25 minutes but it took nearly twice that, however we had time in hand and got a good view of the Tuscan countryside and little villages. When we arrived in Pisa we went to the booking office and they had a record of our booking ... read more

Geo: 43.843, 10.508Buonasera!We left Venice Friday morning under sunny skies, took a couple of trains passing through Florence (though not long enough to leave the train station to catch a glimpse of the Duomo there), and arrived in sunny Lucca (Tuscany) mid-afternoon.Using the GPS, we made our way from the train station to our lovely B&B, where the hosts had put us in a wonderful suite on the top floor with a view overlooking red tile roofs and the Passagiata Delle Mura, a green space, park, and walking/biking path on top of the broad wall that encircles the entire city.After quickly unpacking, we got out for a nice long walk around the entire 2.5-mile circumference of the wall, did a self-guided walking tour of the city and its major sites, and grabbed slices of heavenly pizza ... read more

A 5 hour drive from Steyr to Trento in the Italian Alps, Dolomites as they are known, Trento was truly a lovely surprise, we picked it because it was just over the halfway mark down to Lucca, we were so glad we picked it! Our hotel was magnificent and a moderate price really and another historic place surrounded by the magnificant mountains. Our drive through the Brenner pass was so scenic, we just loved it! Mark's friend in Steyr said, don't be surprised if it snows going through the pass, but the day ended up being magnificent and the sun was shining warm and strong....arriving in Trento it was 28 degrees, couldn't believe it , thought we would have had to break out the woollies but not to be! Took a walk around town and had ... read more